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Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is a CMS-reimbursable clinical service that uses FDA-cleared medical devices to digitally transmit a patient's physiological data from home to their healthcare provider.
Unlike traditional telehealth, RPM is a care management service focused on data-driven interventions. In 2026, the program supports both chronic (long-term) and acute (short-term, 2-15 day) monitoring.
How it Works: From Data to Action
Providers use these continuous health trends to inform treatment plans, including:
RPM billing must be directed by a provider with an NPI number. That said, a diverse set of licenses can deliver the program, including:
ThoroughCare offers case studies and solutions-based content to educate about the different ways remote monitoring can support patients and practices.
2-G Consulting, a nurse-led care management company, is achieving an average patient retention of 23.4 months, and it's redefining what’s possible for nurses looking to take control of their careers.
MetaPhy Health, a leading care management provider in the gastrointestinal (GI) space, has successfully transformed care delivery for 24k+ patients by leveraging RPM and ThoroughCare’s care coordination platform.
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An RPM program for patients with heart failure demonstrated 52% monthly savings for Medicare beneficiaries, reducing costs associated with ED visits, hospitalizations and nursing home stays.
Remote monitoring data can enhance care for, but not limited to:
Enrollment is completed at an in-person evaluation or Annual Wellness Visit. Written or oral consent must be documented.
The provider should explain to the patient:
In 2026, CMS expanded the RPM code set to provide greater clinical flexibility. Providers can now choose between codes based on the amount of data collected and the time spent on management.
You must choose one of these codes per 30-day period based on how many days the patient transmitted data. They are not additive.
Strategic Insight: CMS has valued 99445 at the same rate as 99454. This means you no longer lose reimbursement if a patient fails to reach the 16-day threshold, provided they hit at least 2 days of transmission.
These codes cover the time your clinical staff spends reviewing data and interacting with the patient. Choose the code that matches your cumulative monthly time.
To ensure audit-readiness and maximize ROI, follow these three rules:
Before starting a program, it's important to consider:
Apart from understanding RPM's rules and requirements, providers should:
Organize a multidisciplinary team of qualified providers to support a comprehensive RPM program, and determine appropriate roles and responsibilities.
Find eligible RPM patients by targeting specific conditions or populations, working with specialists and primary care partners, or reviewing current EHR records.
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Acquire a digital platform to streamline workflow, support documentation, capture and interpret data, enable patient care planning, track and report outcomes, and automate claims preparation.
RPM data can include:
RPM data should be collected through a resource compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Data collected and analyzed by Definitive Healthcare indicate that cardiologists and primary care physicians are the main RPM adopters, with nephrologists, pulmonologists, emergency medicine, and pain management specialists making up a smaller but influential group.
Conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and chronic lung disease are not only the deadliest chronic illnesses in the US, but the most prevalent monitored via RPM.
In the specialist care setting, RPM devices can target specific conditions and clinical measures.
RPM data provides an early detection alert when a patient’s clinical picture worsens, but symptoms haven’t surfaced yet.
An adult oncology hospital-at-home program found that during the first 30 days of enrollment, patients in the program were 58% less likely to be admitted for an unplanned hospital stay.
For rural health clinics, RPM helps fill gaps in care. Research demonstrates RPM’s efficacy in rural settings, particularly for diabetes, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
An RPM program can also capitalize on providers’ strengths in nurturing personal relationships and maximizing limited resources. They can leverage close ties to the community and collaborate toward quality improvement efforts.
RPM supports preventative care management between office visits, demonstrating improved outcomes over episodic, reactive disease treatment approaches.
Enrollment in RPM provides patients access to individual care planning, monthly touchpoints with the greater care team, referral services, prescription refills, and physician reviews.
Providers can use RPM programs to seamlessly coordinate care.
Since 2017, ThoroughCare has helped MetaPhy Health optimize care delivery for patients with multiple chronic conditions.
Learn how MetaPhy Health uses our care coordination platform.
This can further support patient outcomes and generate additional reimbursement.
Manage conditions with SMART goals, care plans, and evidence-based assessments.
Providers can help address behavioral health as part of overall care for chronic illness.
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Patients can receive support following a hospital discharge to avoid readmission.
Capture and analyze patient health data continuously to inform condition manage, monitor risks, and report and track overall wellness.
Our software platform is intuitive and designed for RPM’s rules and requirements. ThoroughCare can help:
